Francesca Corsi
Francesa Corsi did not formally serve in the Armed Forces, but she was in the war (WWII) all the same. She and her family had to evacuate their home in Viareggio, Italy, and flee to the countryside where they were marginally safer from invading German troops. While out one day searching for food, my mom (then just a teenager) was hit in the leg with shrapnel from a fighter plane sent to strafe the area. She bound up her wound with a scrap of fabric torn from her dress and walked several miles until she found a First Aid station. They had no morphine, but pulled the shrapnel out and bandaged her wound. She never got a medal or any official mention, but she was one of many who were wounded during that war. My mom was always brave and kept her head up no matter what life sent to her doorstep. She is a hero in my family.